If you have kids, you’ll almost certainly have heard them using the word ‘just’ in the above context – meaning, of course, ‘I’m about to do what you asked me to do <insert your own time period> minutes / hours ago.’

The word ‘just’ is so often used as an excuse – an almost throw-away word that we hope lets us off the hook – that gets us out of a scrape.

But, at the other extreme, it can be incredibly powerful.

THE POWER OF JUST

A well-known sportswear manufacturer use the words ‘Just Do It’ along with an affirmational logo that reinforces the motto.

We all know what we need or want to do. But we all also know how not to do it – how to put off doing the do-able.

Why?

What is the enemy of ‘DOING’?

Is it fear? Procrastination? Disbelief? Lack of confidence?

My mind often overflows with ideas of what I want to do and even how to do it – what it looks like. But there is an enemy and its name is ‘fear’. Fear can be paralysing. It invents scenarios that don’t exist in the present and which may never exist in the future. It clouds our vision and limits our perspective. It dents our confidence and squeezes our self-belief.

What if I could just brush aside fear and just do something? What if I just took the first step? What if I just did what I thought I couldn’t do…? What if I just…?

I really believe in ‘the Power of Just’.

Just do it.

And, yes, you will make mistakes – and learn valuable lessons from them. But you will also be wiser – and happier. Because you tried. Because you stepped out. Because you stepped forward.

The following anonymous truism carries a great deal of weight:

Take risks: if you win, you will be happy; if you lose, you will be wise.

NOTHING TO LOSE

What could possibly go wrong? Everything!

What is there to lose? Often – nothing!

If your life is only measured by material value, then you could potentially lose everything – but if what you value cannot be seen and is difficult to measure, then it will be very difficult to lose and is worth risking everything for.

So – what are you waiting for? Decide what you want or need to do and take the first step.

Just do it.

Now.

And then, when you’ve started out and scared yourself silly doing it, do it again and JUST KEEP GOING.

A friend of mine, Nicola Marshall, espouses the idea of ‘one word’ goals: building your intentions around a single word that encompasses your objectives.

Social networking sites seem to have neared breaking point today as individuals and organisations flooded their pages with posts and updates bidding farewell to 2014 and welcoming in the new year. I myself spent considerable time reviewing and sharing posts that I came across whilst browsing.

But why the almost universal obsession with the new year? You only to have to witness the ever-increasing size and quantity of new year firework displays to realise that New Year is deeply significant to most of the population of our planet.

And yet, as some wit observed, most of our universe, including the non-human wildlife on Planet Earth, continues its existence blissfully unaware of this key milestone in our annual calendar cycle.

‘Happy New Year.’

Why? Was the old year particularly sad? Is the past full of regrets, failure and unfulfilled dreams? Does ‘new’ necessarily mean better – like the ‘new and improved’ that regularly appears splashed across the packaging on products we’ve been buying for aeons?

The fact is that human beings are naturally dissatisfied: we can always see how things can be better – including our own lives. Dissatisfaction is a good thing – if it spurs us on to improvement. But not if it results in cynicism or spiralling disappointment. We will never attain perfection but perfect is always a good thing to aim for. It inspires us, it motivates us, it draws us onwards and upwards.

And so to the new year – and why it’s good for the soul.

It does us good to take stock, to review, to reflect, to re-assess, to re-align, to re-focus. The new year gives us a valuable opportunity to look at where we are, where we need to be – and what next steps we should take to move in the right direction. This naturally involves looking backwards as well as forwards. With an objective viewpoint, most of us should be able to work out some clear actions we need to take this year – either to stop, change or maintain some aspect of our lives. People have been calling these ‘New Year Resolutions’ for centuries, if not millennia: the ancient Babylonians made promises to their gods at the start of each year that they would return borrowed objects and pay their debts. The Romans began each year by making promises to the god Janus, for whom the month of January is named.

Practically, there are some simple steps to making, and keeping, new year resolutions:

Firstly, write down specifically what you want to do and why. For example, I want to lose two stones because it will improve my health and well-being.

Secondly, tell someone who cares about you what you’re gong to do and why: this will help to keep you accountable – they will hopefully keep checking up on you!

Thirdly, just start doing it – one small action to start with – every day. It apparently takes just 21 days to form a habit so, by the end of January, when everyone else has given up on their new year resolutions, you’re well into the swing of keeping yours.

As well as the three simple steps to achieving your goal, there are also three simple words:

YES – YOU – CAN.

So, New Year really can be more than just a date – it can be a step, a giant leap, or even a turning point.

I wish you a truly happy and successful new year, starting now and continuing for ever…

Given the number of books, programs, websites, courses and other material that abound for the sole purpose of helping people find happiness, I figure there must be a lot of unhappy people about. It raises a lot of questions:

What is happiness?

Do we have a correct understanding of happiness?

Is it right to look for happiness?

Are we looking for happiness in the wrong place?

Should we be searching for it?

Do we have a right to happiness?

We seem to treat happiness as a commodity – as something one can possess – but it has conditions attached to it. So, when I have such and such, I’ll be happy. If only such and such, I’d be happy.

I suspect that unhappiness has a lot to do with false or unrealistic expectations or a degree of dissatisfaction or disappointment but I really believe that so-called unhappiness is down to something quite simple: lack of meaning or purpose in one’s life. This has nothing to do with money, possessions, relationships, health, status, power or anything else that we cling to but that has a habit of sifting through our hands faster than sand.

It’s about who we are and what drives us.

If we have meaning and purpose, we have a reason to get out of bed every morning; we have a reason to work hard, to take risks, to go the extra mile, to make sacrifices. We have hope, confidence, energy. We’re happy in spite of anything else that might be happening to us at the time.

Some of the unhappiest people on earth are also the richest.

Some of the happiest people on earth are the have nots, the infirm, the destitute, the oppressed.

What’s the difference? Well, those who are looking for happiness are not likely to find it, whereas those who have happiness have it simply because they gave it away.